Skip To Main Content
advertisement
Seneca Valley School District

A Story of Survival, Strength and Hope

Seneca Valley Senior High School students were given an extraordinary opportunity and an unforgettable educational experience as they listened to 96-year-old Holocaust survivor Howard Chandler share his story. Mr. Chandler, who endured the horrors of Auschwitz, spoke to students during an assembly on Friday, Oct. 10, offering a firsthand account of his time as a slave laborer in Nazi concentration camps.

Born in 1928, Mr. Chandler grew up in Poland before being sent to a series of concentration camps. From 1942 to 1944, he was imprisoned in the Starachowice Slave Labor Camp, then sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later Buchenwald, before being liberated from Theresienstadt. 

After the war, Mr. Chandler immigrated to Canada in 1947, where he built a life with his family and became a respected member of the Jewish community. Since 2011, he has traveled with Classrooms Without Borders, guiding educators and students through seminars in Poland and inspiring them to remember, learn, and act by sharing his powerful story of survival and resilience.

Following his presentation, students participated in a Q&A session and had the opportunity to meet Mr. Chandler in person. Many expressed how deeply moved they were by his courage and the enduring message of strength, hope and perseverance.

As the number of Holocaust survivors becomes smaller, opportunities to hear directly from those who lived through it have become increasingly rare. Mr. Jim Lucot, Seneca Valley Senior High School AP Government/Honors U.S. History teacher organized this event for his students and other classes to ensure that these invaluable lessons of history continue to resonate with future generations.

Read more in the Cranberry Eagle.

A presentation is taking place in a lecture hall, with a large projection screen displaying historical imagery and a panel of speakers addressing the audience seated in the auditorium.
The image shows an elderly man in a sweater vest standing in front of a group of young women, some of whom are wearing casual clothing and appear to be engaged in conversation with the man.
The image shows a group of people, including an elderly person and a younger individual, standing in what appears to be a hallway or lobby area with a wooden floor and brick walls.
A large auditorium filled with people seated in rows, facing a stage with a projection screen displaying the %22Classrooms%22 logo.
The image shows a woman in a gray sweater standing on a stage, engaged in conversation with an older man in a vest and collared shirt. Behind them, two other people can be seen in the background.
The image shows a group of people, including an elderly man in a blue sweater, a young woman in a white sweater, and a young woman in a red shirt, standing on a wooden stage or platform.
The image shows a stage with a large projection screen displaying the %22Classrooms without Borders%22 logo, and two people seated on the stage, likely presenting or speaking at an event.
The image shows a stage with a large projection screen displaying an image of a historic building, with two people seated on the stage in front of the projection, and an audience seated in the foreground.
A large group of people, both adults and children, gathered on a stage in a performance or event setting, with a projection screen and audio equipment visible in the foreground.